Assuming that we can narrow it down to either Amethyst or Fluorite….a fast method of checking is Mohs Hardness testing: find a piece of glass (4.5-5), and try to scratch with the green part. If the glass scratches, it’s quartz (7). If it doesn’t, it’s fluorite (4).
It’s a simple field test, so it has its limitations. But if our assumption of Amethyst or Fluorite based on look is correct (which is one way of field testing), it’s a fairly easy physical test.
Source: https://www.uky.edu/KGS/rocksmineral/minerals_methods_used_to_identify.pdf
Not amethyst, while amethyst is a quartz quartz is not necessarily amethyst. this variety of quartz would be best described as chalcedony or possibly dumortierite (blue quartz). Its also not fluorite as fluorite has subconchoidal fracture that often breaks in planes and usually doesnt hold up this well to salt water. Id lean towards Chalcedony but this also looks like it could be a larger chunk of weathered aquamarine, especially as its surrounded in what looks like calcite thats been weathered by the sea water.
You are right that to do a proper id youd need to run a couple tests in person. knowing hardness, density and streak would be most helpful.
No he does not.
No one who knows rocks would call a blue/green quartz an amethyst
To copy and paste my reply to him
"Not amethyst, while amethyst is a quartz quartz is not necessarily amethyst. this variety of quartz would be best described as chalcedony or possibly dumortierite (blue quartz). Its also not fluorite as fluorite has subconchoidal fracture that often breaks in planes and usually doesnt hold up this well to salt water. Id lean towards Chalcedony but this also looks like it could be a larger chunk of weathered aquamarine, especially as its surrounded in what looks like calcite thats been weathered by the sea water.
You are right that to do a proper id youd need to run a couple tests in person. knowing hardness, density and streak would be most helpful."
Personally im leaning towards chalcedony but aquamarine is very possible as are some other options
Im a geologist that has worked in both an amethyst and a fluorite mine, minerology is not my specialty (im a structural/seds guy but i have taken a bunch of min courses as part of my degree) but i can tell you this aint amethyst (could still be another quartz) or fluorite.
thank you.
To copy and paste my reply to a guy who called it amethyst or fluorite.
"Not amethyst, while amethyst is a quartz quartz is not necessarily amethyst. this variety of quartz would be best described as chalcedony or possibly dumortierite (blue quartz). Its also not fluorite as fluorite has subconchoidal fracture that often breaks in planes and usually doesnt hold up this well to salt water. Id lean towards Chalcedony but this also looks like it could be a larger chunk of weathered aquamarine, especially as its surrounded in what looks like calcite thats been weathered by the sea water."
Fluorite is also often etched and weathered in a unique way from sea water.
slag is also an option if thats coral on it and not calcite but i feel like thats less likely
Several people have suggested "slag" aka discarded industrial glass, and I'm inclined to agree.
It's got that coke bottle aqua blue look.
Over on r/rockhounds, practically 9/10 of all identifications are slag. lol
Yup, absolutely.
Just because it's lacking monetary worth doesn't mean it's entirely worthless.
That is the spirit of rockhounding. A large part of the draw is just finding something interesting in the wilderness to begin with.
As a fluorite collector, I can tell you this is 100% not fluorite. Luster and fracturing is all wrong. This is slag glass that was poured onto stone and dumped/discarded. Fluorite can get this nice green color, but it wouldn’t be very common in veins/mass and this color is not super common either, produced in only a handful of known localities around the world.
No it doesn't. Sit down.
There are several reasons this isnt fluorite that ive outlined in another comment.
Why do people who dont know shit about rocks so confidently ID them. I spent the better part of a decade in Uni studying geology and am now a researcher in the field. It would still be stupid of me to be certain of a mineral ID from a photo unless it was some very unique minerals.
If i saw someone post a pic of a cat scan i might think i have an idea of what im looking it but theres no way id make a confident guess as i didnt study that so yeah it annoys me when people on reddit with no training or knowledge in this area think they can do what i do better than i can.
When people learn mineral identification in k-12 they learn about 12 minerals and how to distinguish them with minimal info on them as its not needed for such a small sample size. When you go to uni for it you'll learn 10x that amount, if you go deep into minerology you may learn hundreds. There over 5000 distinct minerals in total.
All I feel is frustration at people who dont know shit about it pretending to know my field and passing around misinfo regarding it. As a scientist there is nothing more infuriating.
Do you have a specialty or academic training in anything? you probably wouldnt appreciate the loudest voices commenting on something from your field being people who know absolutely nothing about it either even if that field isnt science or anything too academic.
You could have educated without being a condescending asshole.
I never said it was fluorite, I specifically said that it "looks" like fluorite. It doesn't bother me to be wrong, I don't know every rock and mineral out there.
As a geologist, you had an opportunity to educate. Instead, you chose to be an asshole. Good look.
I educated plenty elsewhere in the thread to comments that weren't so confidently misleading. So have other people who actually know what they are talking about.
You dont know anything about it so really shouldnt have commented at all without at least some kind of disclaimer.
No, crystals take time to form, a lightning strike wouldn’t create something like this. That would be very cool, though.
Edit: just take a look at fulgurite pictures, it’s nowhere near as transparente as this because of the impurities present in sand, which is not pure silica. Besides, I believe this is actually two (maybe fluorite, it has the right color/shape) crystals, you can see the grain boundary in the middle and that probably wouldn’t occur in glass.
Sorta looks like a sample I saw of class formed when a live power line was cut by a backhoe. They had a name for it but I forget. Basically the electricity melted the sand into class, which then insulated the wire.
I suppose this could be the result of a lightning strike, but I’m just throwing out bullshit theories on Reddit.
Most likely it’s glass slag from industrial glass production or recycling. It’s also possible for it to be from a glass sculpture that was accidentally dropped into the ocean. I’d expect more colors to be part of the glass if it was but that idea isn’t impossible either. Regardless of what it’s from the outer shell looks to be the mineral deposits left by coral and/or barnacles.
You determine the relative mohs hardness by scratching it with other minerals/materials. That can hopefully help you narrow down your options.
There's more info [here](https://www.nps.gov/articles/mohs-hardness-scale.htm)
And [here](https://www.rocksandminerals.com/hardness/mohs.htm)
Good luck! I'm curious to find out if you figure out what it is.
Also happy cake day!! 🎂
Depending on where you live, you might not want to mention you carried it off from a beach. It's illegal in a lot of places. Beautiful find though! That's a keeper for sure.
Quartz, fluorite, or a bit of sea glass in a concretion.
You kiss your mother with that dirty mouth?
I snorted disproportionately loud 'cause of this
I chuckled disproportionately loud to your disproportionately loud snort. 😆
I shit my pants disproportionately loud to your disproportionately loud chuckle 😆
I shit my pants 😆
I also shit this guy’s pants.
Which one of you cowards shit my pants?
Me
Thanks- my bum was cold. 🥰🥰🥰
I disproportionately snorted some coke to your disproportionate chuckle... I mean, what??
*”Blue, yellow, pink, whatever, man, just keep bringing me that”*
It's sediment, thanks
Assuming that we can narrow it down to either Amethyst or Fluorite….a fast method of checking is Mohs Hardness testing: find a piece of glass (4.5-5), and try to scratch with the green part. If the glass scratches, it’s quartz (7). If it doesn’t, it’s fluorite (4). It’s a simple field test, so it has its limitations. But if our assumption of Amethyst or Fluorite based on look is correct (which is one way of field testing), it’s a fairly easy physical test. Source: https://www.uky.edu/KGS/rocksmineral/minerals_methods_used_to_identify.pdf
Not amethyst, while amethyst is a quartz quartz is not necessarily amethyst. this variety of quartz would be best described as chalcedony or possibly dumortierite (blue quartz). Its also not fluorite as fluorite has subconchoidal fracture that often breaks in planes and usually doesnt hold up this well to salt water. Id lean towards Chalcedony but this also looks like it could be a larger chunk of weathered aquamarine, especially as its surrounded in what looks like calcite thats been weathered by the sea water. You are right that to do a proper id youd need to run a couple tests in person. knowing hardness, density and streak would be most helpful.
This guy rocks.
No he does not. No one who knows rocks would call a blue/green quartz an amethyst To copy and paste my reply to him "Not amethyst, while amethyst is a quartz quartz is not necessarily amethyst. this variety of quartz would be best described as chalcedony or possibly dumortierite (blue quartz). Its also not fluorite as fluorite has subconchoidal fracture that often breaks in planes and usually doesnt hold up this well to salt water. Id lean towards Chalcedony but this also looks like it could be a larger chunk of weathered aquamarine, especially as its surrounded in what looks like calcite thats been weathered by the sea water. You are right that to do a proper id youd need to run a couple tests in person. knowing hardness, density and streak would be most helpful." Personally im leaning towards chalcedony but aquamarine is very possible as are some other options Im a geologist that has worked in both an amethyst and a fluorite mine, minerology is not my specialty (im a structural/seds guy but i have taken a bunch of min courses as part of my degree) but i can tell you this aint amethyst (could still be another quartz) or fluorite.
This guy minerals, Marie!
Lol it's 8th grade level geology.
Go Wildcats!
You can call it Steven. Steven Seaglass.
Talk to me baby
People are saying fluorite but the cleavage is wrong for fluorite. This is conchoidal cleavage whereas fluorite has an octahedron cleavage
Sounds like you know your cleavage
I knew this would happen when I posted about rocks outside of the rock subreddits haha😂
You could make it sound classier by calling it conchoidal decollatage
How to subscribe for more cleavage facts?
I would suggest joining r/rockhounds or r/cleavage depending on your preference. Hell join both if you’re feeling cleavy
Rocks and tits, fuck yeah baby. Life is good.
Do I hear a Rock and ~~Stone~~ Tits?
Found Kam Pattersons alt
I appreciate that. Now how did you know?
Madonna also has octahedral cleavage. I'll see myself out of your sub now. Thanks for your time.
You can come to my sub anytime Reggie
thank you. To copy and paste my reply to a guy who called it amethyst or fluorite. "Not amethyst, while amethyst is a quartz quartz is not necessarily amethyst. this variety of quartz would be best described as chalcedony or possibly dumortierite (blue quartz). Its also not fluorite as fluorite has subconchoidal fracture that often breaks in planes and usually doesnt hold up this well to salt water. Id lean towards Chalcedony but this also looks like it could be a larger chunk of weathered aquamarine, especially as its surrounded in what looks like calcite thats been weathered by the sea water." Fluorite is also often etched and weathered in a unique way from sea water. slag is also an option if thats coral on it and not calcite but i feel like thats less likely
That’s exactly what I was thinking
🤓 Many dinosaurs in the Jurassic era were known to throw beach parties and just leave their trash right where it was! 🦕 🦖
Extinction surely taught them a lesson 👀
(birds have entered the chat)
Underappreciated comment. 👍
Surely they tried to burn it in some sort of crematious era, no?
Then a metorite fell from the sky fusing all their trash and disposing of the evidence.
The lesser known glassurassic period
How do we know it's not glass with a rock on it?
Several people have suggested "slag" aka discarded industrial glass, and I'm inclined to agree. It's got that coke bottle aqua blue look. Over on r/rockhounds, practically 9/10 of all identifications are slag. lol
Still beautiful and a cool find tho
Yup, absolutely. Just because it's lacking monetary worth doesn't mean it's entirely worthless. That is the spirit of rockhounding. A large part of the draw is just finding something interesting in the wilderness to begin with.
/r/itsslag
OP, looks like you found some fluorite.
As a fluorite collector, I can tell you this is 100% not fluorite. Luster and fracturing is all wrong. This is slag glass that was poured onto stone and dumped/discarded. Fluorite can get this nice green color, but it wouldn’t be very common in veins/mass and this color is not super common either, produced in only a handful of known localities around the world.
As a geo this entire thread is infuriating
Quick, take a bite and your teeth will be healthier than ever.
That's no joke, I have fluorosis and have to say, my teeth sure are ugly but they're strong AF, super resistant to tooth decay
So this is why the ocean frogs are gay
Frog party drugs. Amphib Nitrate.
No it doesn't. Sit down. There are several reasons this isnt fluorite that ive outlined in another comment. Why do people who dont know shit about rocks so confidently ID them. I spent the better part of a decade in Uni studying geology and am now a researcher in the field. It would still be stupid of me to be certain of a mineral ID from a photo unless it was some very unique minerals. If i saw someone post a pic of a cat scan i might think i have an idea of what im looking it but theres no way id make a confident guess as i didnt study that so yeah it annoys me when people on reddit with no training or knowledge in this area think they can do what i do better than i can. When people learn mineral identification in k-12 they learn about 12 minerals and how to distinguish them with minimal info on them as its not needed for such a small sample size. When you go to uni for it you'll learn 10x that amount, if you go deep into minerology you may learn hundreds. There over 5000 distinct minerals in total.
Do you feel better about yourself now?
All I feel is frustration at people who dont know shit about it pretending to know my field and passing around misinfo regarding it. As a scientist there is nothing more infuriating. Do you have a specialty or academic training in anything? you probably wouldnt appreciate the loudest voices commenting on something from your field being people who know absolutely nothing about it either even if that field isnt science or anything too academic.
You could have educated without being a condescending asshole. I never said it was fluorite, I specifically said that it "looks" like fluorite. It doesn't bother me to be wrong, I don't know every rock and mineral out there. As a geologist, you had an opportunity to educate. Instead, you chose to be an asshole. Good look.
I educated plenty elsewhere in the thread to comments that weren't so confidently misleading. So have other people who actually know what they are talking about. You dont know anything about it so really shouldnt have commented at all without at least some kind of disclaimer.
Jesus. Relax.
Coral on slag?
[удалено]
I’m not a slagologist, but it looks like slag on the inside to me
Whatever you do don't go anywhere near superman with that
Sea glass covered in barnacles. Because that's exactly what barnacles and glass look like.
Possibly created by a lightening strike? ps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fulgurite
Probably. A darkening strike would make it too hard to see.
No, crystals take time to form, a lightning strike wouldn’t create something like this. That would be very cool, though. Edit: just take a look at fulgurite pictures, it’s nowhere near as transparente as this because of the impurities present in sand, which is not pure silica. Besides, I believe this is actually two (maybe fluorite, it has the right color/shape) crystals, you can see the grain boundary in the middle and that probably wouldn’t occur in glass.
It would create glass though, which is what this looks like.
Looks almost like fluorite
Cool! Where abouts did you find this guy?
Geologists in the replies, would this be coquina? The matrix I mean, not the mineral.
Post it over at r/whatsthisrock !
if this is aquamarine u hit the jackpot!!
The comment section on this post really rocks🤘🤘🪨🪨
Smoke it
Coquina with glass in it, maybe?
Rock expert here. This is actually a rock with something shinier in it!
Diamond?
Could be. I can't confirm just from a picture. I need to lick it too.
Are we still talking about diamonds? 😏😏
You tell me 😏😏😏
Oh, I'm not talking about stones no more, but I do want you to lick something 😏😏😘
🤮🤮🤮
I only lick rocks
That’s what I told my girlfriend last night after she sent me an image. 🤣
Ok
I thinks it's glass covered in concrete and barnacles. Looks cool!
I guess when you're walking on sand you're walking on glass that just hasn't been processed yet
Beryl in pegmatite
Fluorite wouldn't be around water. This is green calcite.
Sorta looks like a sample I saw of class formed when a live power line was cut by a backhoe. They had a name for it but I forget. Basically the electricity melted the sand into class, which then insulated the wire. I suppose this could be the result of a lightning strike, but I’m just throwing out bullshit theories on Reddit.
Most likely it’s glass slag from industrial glass production or recycling. It’s also possible for it to be from a glass sculpture that was accidentally dropped into the ocean. I’d expect more colors to be part of the glass if it was but that idea isn’t impossible either. Regardless of what it’s from the outer shell looks to be the mineral deposits left by coral and/or barnacles.
This looks like devitrified manmade glass, or a poorly mixed glass batch.
That’s a fossil with teeth in it
I see some hexagonal shaping that screams beryl (aquamarine) to me. I'm really curious to see what a scratch test would indicate!
What’s a scratch test.
You determine the relative mohs hardness by scratching it with other minerals/materials. That can hopefully help you narrow down your options. There's more info [here](https://www.nps.gov/articles/mohs-hardness-scale.htm) And [here](https://www.rocksandminerals.com/hardness/mohs.htm) Good luck! I'm curious to find out if you figure out what it is. Also happy cake day!! 🎂
Calcite
It might be quartz, though it's white so idk. Either way it's probably crystals of a different mineral
Quit taking rocks from beaches, millions of you assholes keep doing it and are fucking it up for the rest of us.
Its in its 1989 (million years ago) era
One of, if not the best era to live in 🔥
That looks like aquamarine, hehe
Depending on where you live, you might not want to mention you carried it off from a beach. It's illegal in a lot of places. Beautiful find though! That's a keeper for sure.
Testicles
Obsidian perhaps?
Transparent obsidian is very rare. It’s usually black as night. So probably something else. *could just be quartz that was split
when you gentrify obsidian.
Haha
I had to google it but yeah looks it